"Every single day, I think to myself.
'Today is a new day. A great new day. A day of...'
'School.'
"School, yeah, it's pretty fun. I do know a lot of people may disagree with me, but this is entirely my opinion, y'all don't need to side with me with this one. All the students just flailing about in their classrooms, all the teachers preparing their great lessons, the janitors cleaning up our messes, the librarians delivering books to the classes for good use, and..."
"Ah."
"The bullies."
"Those little scoundrels, those godawful creations of potentially godawful parents, I really don't like them. Being a victim of a bully is just so terrible. You do not even know what it feels like to be picked on in front of a crowd, even worse, in front of a whole town. Just for being a little unproductive, they think they can treat me like a dying goat? How dare they."
"How dare they."
"They don't know me."
Marc thought to himself as he takes a step out of his classroom for lunch break. He plans to get some coffee before the last set of classes, since he's "tired as hell", as he calls it. An espresso macchiato would be great for him.
As Marc was heading out to buy his caffeinated beverage, he encounters the tall girl, the blondie, AND the shorty, even if the latter already had a broken fist.
"HEY! YOU!" he heard one of the girls bark as they walk closer to him.
"You're lucky you were saved by the old lady yesterday, but now you do not stand a chance. You're going to die."
Darn.
What a threat.
"Haven't you learned your lesson? You three got trumped by a mere old lady, and you still have the audacity to get your revenge on me? How were you even raised? Were you three raised like dogs in your house? Not my problem. Don't take it out on me ever again, because I'm not a guy that has done anything to you. Just let me improve my goddamn studies so that you won't come harass me every day." he retorted
The three girls went silent.
"AND DON'T EVEN TRY TO THREATEN ME WITH DEATH!" Marc fumed at them.
The whole town overheard, even the teachers who went out to buy food as well.
"Delter! Harlen! Porter! Martale!" Marc heard the teachers call out all four of their names.
"Don't tell me this is another case we have to sort out in the middle of lunchbreak." the teacher sighed in disappointment. "Miss, these girls were-."
"SHUSH! I don't want to hear another word about it until after lunch! You four meet me at the long table!" It was only now that Marc realized that this teacher was Ms. Wickett, as silly as her name is, you do not want to mess with her. She's known for her insane expulsion 'tricks', so he better just pray that his school life won't end here and now.
Marc skipped through the girls and Ms. Wickett to head to Beansfield.
As he enters Beansfield, Marc watched the barista making a scene with an angry customer. This is what he heard:
"Sir, I told you, we're out of strawberries. I have no idea why wherever I work, strawberries are always out of stock, but it is NOT my fault."
"Where's your supplier then?"
"He's from Sanica. He supplies the local supermarket as well. He's currently on a plane ride going back to his hometown to pick up the supplies for Beansfield, since he just recently delivered the supplies for the supermarket."
"What's the next best thing you have aside from that strawberry 'n cream frappe?"
"We got a m-"
"Don't even say anything. I'll take the standard mocha."
"Jeez, okay."
The conversation ended as the customer picked up his mocha and left the coffee shop. It was then Marc's turn to order.
"Hey, kid. What wouldja like to order?" the barista asked.
"I would like a cortado, just to wake me up for today." Marc answered.
"Wow, a customer that doesn't snap at me." the barista sighed.
"Yeah, I saw the whole conversation between you and that man earlier. He sounded so mad." he agreed empathetically.
"This isn't even my full time job, I just left my town to try and work at other coffee shops." the barista explained, disappointingly.
"Where did you use to work then?" Marc then questioned him.
"At 'Flasks On The Road', in Cedar Heights, a town in Minnesota. I'll be staying here for just a month, so in a few weeks, I'll be heading back there to continue my job. I practically own the shop." she responded.
"Wow, good job. What's your name?" he asked his last question before she gave him his coffee.
"Harper. Harper Flascon." she answered politely.
"Heh, I see what you did there. Thanks for the coffee, I'll see you whenever." Marc concluded as he headed out of Beansfield with a little smile.
But as Marc remembered what was about to transpire, his face contorted from a joyful smirk to a frown of disbelief.
Ms. Wickett.
"Yeah, I temporarily forgot about her when I had that conversation with Theo. Dammit, why did I have to remember?" he thought to himself.
As Marc was uneasily staggering back to the school, he came across the girls, who were, surprisingly, uneasily staggering back as well.
And now the four were uneasily staggering to the next uneasy moment in their damn uneasy lives.
Ms. Angston Wickett.
They enter Archway just in time for the next class, but their next class won't be too enjoyable.
Good luck to them as they sit at the long table.
"Ah. Marc, Alexa, Holly, and Regina. Three regulars and one introvert."
"Let me just ask; how are you today?" Wickett asked.
"Well, I got coffee." Marc answered her.
"And how about you, girls?" she asked again.
"Well, uh," "Don't even bother answering, just keep quiet." Wickett scoffed.
"You three should stop harassing poor kids. Even if I'm not the kindest of teachers, I'm serious about this. One more move and you three will face the consequences. You're already highschoolers, not elementary jocks." she surprisingly lectured the girls.
"And you; you better improve your studies. High school is not the same from elementary school, you actually need to work to get what you need, so work. Don't just sit and wait in your seat." she then lectured Marc.
"I'm not going to ask you what happened because I believe you could sort this out on your own, since you're old enough to." she stated.
"Ms. Wickett was surprisingly calm, maybe because it wasn't that big of a problem to her." Marc thought.
"You may leave the long table and head back to your classrooms." Wickett addressed.
"Thank you, Ms. Wickett." Marc thanked her.
The four then headed back to our classrooms - oh wait, they're in the same class. Great.
"I don't think my relationship with the girls will ever improve, but no more harassment for me then." Marc pondered.
School went by normally as it should have, and they were dismissed.
As Marc was making his way home, he saw not the girls, but Minne! The woman who heroically saved him from the girls! What a surprise!
"Oh, hello again, young man! It's glad to see you once more." she beamed.
"Hello to you too! How have you been?" Marc asked.
"I'm doing well, how about you and the girls?" she questioned as well.
"Well, they don't fight me anymore, since earlier which we fought for the last time." he answered pleasantly.
"Hey, that's good!" she responded.
"I'll get going to grab another coffee. Wanna come?" he lilted.
"Ah, no thanks. I got work to do in m'hut." she replied.
"Oh okay, See you tomorrow, Minne!" Marc exclaimed with joy as he made his way back home."
"Although I do wonder what Minne is. Being able to counter an attempted attack without doing anything I can see is pretty unusual. " Marc contemplated.
"Eh, I'll figure it out tomorrow."
